A product manager's perspective on product, UX, marketing and the general state of the web.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Who is your first customer, and why?

This blog post from a friend of mine got me thinking about this question:

Who is your FIRST customer and why?

Great question. One that for me immediately puts any project in perspective. Full disclosure: my friend is actually my boss and he said this to me in person regarding something we're working on and it was the perfect place to focus my energy.

I think big. Very big and then back up and focus on the details. That works for me in many ways but as a product manager any product is about the customer and that first one is the most important.

Here I was, creating personas, detailing out feature lists and conducting surveys and getting a bit overwhelmed when I just really need to start by focusing on this one person.

Who where they? What is this one persona and what is their story?

That first person has the potential to be your biggest ally in the market. Making your project rock for them is only going to help.

I'm always curious about how others approach personas. Feel free to leave any tips in the comments.